Despite fraud allegations raised in January, case still not being prosecuted

[August 03, 2022]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The alleged worker’s compensation fraud of a former state employee and Pritzker campaign worker has not been prosecuted.

Public records show in January this year, an Illinois Central Management Services risk management official sent a memo to Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office that Jenny Thornley’s worker's compensation claim has been politicized and Thornley “is quick to let everyone know of her political friendship with Governor Pritzker and his wife.”

Thornley reported a worker's compensation claim on Feb. 3, 2020, the memo said. Thornley, who faces separate overtime fraud charges in Sangamon County from her time at the Illinois State Police Merit Board, alleged merit board Director Jack Garcia sexually assaulted her. After an investigation that cost taxpayers $550,000, the assault allegations were determined to be unfounded.

Even though the claim was unfounded, the taxpayer cost to pay Thornley was more than $158,700 in medical, other expenses, investigation and disability payments, according to the CMS memo obtained by The Center Square through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“I inquired to see if [the special prosecutor] was able to accept our case for a potential fraud prosecution,” CMS-Risk Management's Jack Engle wrote in the memo. “He advised it would need to be referred by the Office of the Attorney General or the State’s Attorney."

Engle went on to say he spoke with an official with the Illinois Department of Insurance who "has not assigned this case for referral but is willing to discuss with us if it will result in an expedited referral and prosecution."

"Please consider referral to The Office of the Special Prosecutor," he said.
 

Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright had already been replaced by a special prosecutor in a separate overtime fraud case against Thornley.

Springfield’s State Journal-Register reported in August 2020 that Thornley’s son was the victim of a hit and run. In that case, Wright filed charges against Bernard Fokum-Dinga that same month, creating a possible conflict in prosecuting Thornley for the overtime case. The Fokum-Dinga case has a trial call on Aug. 8.

After Wright’s request to have the appellate prosecutors handle the matter was approved by the court, Thornley was later indicted by the appellate prosecutor on seven counts of fraud, theft and official misconduct on Sept. 22, 2021.

In February, the AG’s office forwarded the CMS memo to Wright.

“The referral was submitted to the Office of the Attorney General, but because we do not have original jurisdiction in the matter I am forwarding it on to your office,” Deputy Attorney General Tim Diamond said in a Feb. 18 email obtained through a public records request.

Raoul’s Republican opponent Tom DeVore said state law and the appellate prosecutor’s office have been clear.

“The attorney general’s office has original jurisdiction and has prosecuted every work comp fraud case that we’ve ever had in the state of Illinois,” DeVore told WMAY. “It is the attorney general’s case to handle. They try to deflect from it.”

On Friday, Raoul called concern over the handling of the case a “nothing burger” and said his office referred the case to the appellate prosecutor, but the appellate prosecutor said they haven’t received any such court order, let alone any investigative files from the case.
 

“[We] have not seen any appointment or any investigation by law enforcement that would initiate an appointment,” Chief Deputy Director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor David Robinson wrote in the email to Raoul's office. “[The appellate prosecutor’s office] has never done – to my knowledge – any worker's compensation fraud case. Our experience has been that those issues are directed to the AG’s worker’s comp fraud division.”

DeVore said Raoul’s office is obfuscating a politically sensitive case.

“Because they know if they bring charges against Jenny Thornley for this work comp fraud that it’s going to implicate from a conspiracy perspective people in the governor’s office and maybe Governor Pritzker himself,” DeVore said. “That’s why they’re all deflecting and pushing it away from their desk.”

Documents recently unsealed in a separate lawsuit the merit board filed against Thornley, which the AG's office got dismissed, show a worker's compensation claim form Thornley filed Jan. 1, 2020, listed at first “JB Pritzker” as her supervisor and the "Governor’s office" as her employer. A separate form filed on May 2, 2020, Thornley listed her employer as “Office of Gov” and her supervisor as Ann Spillane, the governor's general counsel. Thornley didn't work for the governor's office, she worked for the Illinois State Police Merit Board.

The CMS memo from February lists disability payments going to Thornley totaling $63,517 from July 21, 2020, to Sept. 1, 2021. Medical costs during that time totaled $2,586. Other costs incurred in the case include legal expenses totaling $12,536, surveillance costs of $8,038, bill review costs of $8,038 and photocopy costs of $316.

“We chose to continue with [temporary disability payments] while we conducted an IME and reviewed all of her medical notes,” Engle said in the February memo. “[It] is clear that the sexual assault did not occur. Therefore, any mental health issues that Mrs. Thornley may be experiencing, are not the result of the alleged incident that was reported to have occurred.”

Separate from the worker's compensation allegations, Thornley faces overtime fraud charges totaling more than $67,000 in a Sangamon County Court in October.

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.